In one of the poorest areas of Haiti, members of Stones Crossing Church helped bring first aid and medical care to people who rarely, if ever, see a doctor.
The mission group provided medication to the sick and treated long-term illnesses such as arthritis, all free of charge. Jeff and Cheryl Heck were part of the trip, and marveled at the opportunity to bring health care to those who couldn’t get it.
But something about the experience gnawed at them. If the church could do this work in far-away places such as Haiti, what about people in their own community who need similar help, they thought.
“It was a blessing to be with those people in need. They were just so gracious for everything that we did for them. We didn’t have a lot of medicine with us, but we treated a few sick kids and sick adults. More than anything, we just shared in community with them,” Cheryl Heck said. “If we could do this in Haiti, why couldn’t we do it here?”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Click here to purchase photos from this galleryWith the Hecks’ help, that mission is coming to fruition, as Stones Crossing Church prepares to open a free medical clinic for the needy in mid-2017. Residents in Johnson and parts of Marion and Morgan counties will be able to come to get general wellness checks from trained physicians, meet with counselors to discuss emotional and mental health issues and see specialists who handle skin or kidney issues.
Physicians who belong to the church have offered to donate their time, while nurses and other church members will volunteer to operate the clinic.
“We believe it’s not just going to be medicine — it’s going to be mind, body and soul. If people want prayer, there will be people to pray with them. There will be trained counselors from the church available,” said Cheryl Heck, who will serve as the clinical director. “It’s all the things to make people healthy.”
The endeavor is known as Healing on the Hill, and will be located in a converted house on property next to the church. Medical services will be open to anyone who needs help. Though the clinic will be faith-based, there will be no requirement that patients be Christian or members of the church, Jeff Heck said.
Staff will focus on chronic health problems, such as helping people manage conditions such as diabetes, asthma and heart disease. Though the staff is trained to handle family medicine and immediate care situations, such as short-term illnesses, organizers have found that the need among people is getting consistent treatment for their long-term issues, Jeff Heck said.
“Those are the people who slip through the cracks,” he said.
The clinic will not deal with pain management, and will not have any narcotics on the grounds, Jeff Heck said.
The story behind the clinic starts with the Hecks and a medical calamity of their own. Jeff Heck was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2013, and needed to have his kidney removed. The surgery was a success, and because the tumor had not spread, he didn’t need any additional chemotherapy or radiation following the operation.
But as he recovered, he and Cheryl Heck prayed about the ordeal. The Center Grove area residents felt they needed to give back in some way in return for God blessing them with Jeff Heck’s return to good health.
As they pondered the question, the couple both came to the same conclusion: they would go on a mission trip to Haiti.
“Kidney cancer allows you to face your own mortality in a way that maybe you wouldn’t otherwise. You start thinking, ‘What do you want to do with the rest of your life?'” Jeff Heck said. “We’d always talked about going on a mission trip and never had, and I said that if God got me through this and I lived, we would go to Haiti.”
Though that first trip was not a medical mission trip, it sparked a desire to do more similar type work both abroad and locally. The couple signed up for a second voyage to Haiti, this one focused on medical help for the needy population living there.
A growing interest in helping underserved people get medical care formed between the Hecks. Cheryl Heck is a nurse practitioner for Indiana University Health, and Jeff Heck is an attorney in Indianapolis. Their professional lives didn’t leave much time for tackling the massive issue on their own, but they talked about what it would take to start a clinic once they retired.
They discovered a local organization called Health Access Collaborative, a grouping of 13 free and reduced-cost healthcare clinics from around central Indiana. Using that guidance, they started putting together the minutiae of starting a clinic: what regulations they needed to follow, licenses they would need, paperwork that they’d have to have.
The couple met with Pastor Scott Luck and other leaders at Stones Crossing Church to discuss a medical clinic, and Luck liked the idea. Suddenly, it seemed that the project would start sooner than they thought.
“It’s a total God thing. We had a vision, and stepped out saying that we wanted to give back to God, but didn’t know how that would happen,” Cheryl Heck said. “But it’s been miraculous how God has moved through all of this. He’s unfolded every aspect and put every piece together.”
Johnson County does have existing low-cost or free health clinics. St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Franklin started a clinic in 1996 offering medical treatments, non-narcotic medications, social services guidance, dental referrals and other services.
Windrose Health Network provides low-cost medical assistance at clinics in Franklin, Trafalgar and the southside of Indianapolis.
But for those living in the Center Grove area, no nearby option exists.
“It’s a great out-of-pocket cost just for them to be seen,” said Cheryl Heck. “They can’t afford the medicine. If they need treatments, they can’t afford that either. It’s heartbreaking, especially as a caregiver if you can’t take care of people.”
The next step was finding a location for the clinic. Though they searched properties throughout central Indiana, nothing appeared to work for their needs and budget.
But Stones Crossing Church officials stepped in with a solution. The family who owned the property just to the east of the church approached officials to see if they were interested in purchasing it, before it went on the market.
Church leaders decided that it would be a useful tool in its expanding local missions works, said Mitch Green, missions pastor at Stones Crossing Church.
From the church’s perspective, not only does the clinic offer a valuable service to needy people in the community, but it provides an ideal outlet for members who want to serve, as well.
“What excites us is the sheer amount of volunteer opportunities that a space like this offers, from people answering phones to actual practitioners,” Green said. “We’re excited to see how our church will mobilize around the efforts.”
Dr. Tim Sutton, a kidney specialist with Indiana University Health, had been part of previous medical mission trips with Stones Crossing Church, including with the Hecks. As Jeff and Cheryl Heck developed the idea for a local clinic, he offered his support in any way.
He will serve as the volunteer medical director, using his professional expertise and licensing as a physician to assist the clinic in any way possible.
For Sutton, the clinic is an opportunity to meld important aspects of his life into one vital service.
“I see the gap in health care. It’s a combination of what my skills are as a physician, and mirroring that with my faith background and a desire to help those in need,” he said. “I want to use my talents that way to reach out to those in need.”
Over the next six months, the future home of the clinic will be renovated and adapted to create a waiting area, examination rooms and other features specific to a clinic.
The hope is to start seeing patients in July 2017, Jeff Heck said.
Details are still being worked out, but officials would like to have the clinic open three days a week to answer the phones and schedule patients. Care will likely be given in the evening one weeknight, as well as on Saturday mornings.
That will be dependent on the availability of the volunteer physicians, Jeff Heck said.
The clinic has been established as a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, which made more sense to separate from the church in terms of medical malpractice insurance, administrative operations and other aspects of a clinic, Jeff Heck said.
Stones Crossing Church will support the clinic monetarily to cover expenses, such as utilities and equipment. Donations are being raised, and with an all-volunteer staff, overhead costs should remain low, Green said.
Organizers will also be looking into grants that will help with other aspects of running the clinic.
With the church having a website for the clinic, people can donate directly to support the effort. Local residents can also sign up to volunteer to help at the clinic.
Though the opening is still months away, the energy behind the project is already building, Green said.
“That’s what excites us. Our goal as a church is to mobilize people in service, and to encourage them to live beyond themselves,” he said. “I really believe that this has more potential ways to serve than anything I’ve ever seen.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Healing on the Hill
What: A free medical clinic in the Center Grove area organized as a local outreach mission of Stones Crossing Church.
Location: 7000 W. Stones Crossing Road, Greenwood
Who can get help: The clinic will be open to any residents in Johnson, Morgan and Marion counties who are in need
What will be treated: Focus will be on caring for chronic diseases, such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease, though the clinic will have the ability to treat short-term illness and other issues.
Timeline: Organizers hope to have the clinic accepting patients by July 2017
How to help: Monetary donations are being accepted at healingonthehill.org/donate. Physicians, nurses and other volunteers interested in offering their time can call 317-210-2783.
Information: HealingOnTheHill.org
[sc:pullout-text-end]
